polly

Posted , 4 users are following.

Hello

Had Parathyoid surgery 6 weeks ago; 2 glands removed. Wound healing really well.  Appetite, sleep, energy levels still very poor. My family say I am not forgetting as much as I did previously and that I don`t look as tired so there is clearly some improvement. However, I am disappointed as I had read on the US expert site Parathyroid.com that many people felt better almost immediately. My surgeon warned me I might not feel an improvement in my symptoms. The operation was not undertaken for these but for my Osteoporosis in order to prevent it getting worse. Can anyone advise if they are still feeling energy depleted some time after surgery? This was the main reason I underwent the surgery as this was the most devastating aspect of my illness pre-surgery. Thanks .

0 likes, 7 replies

7 Replies

  • Posted

    Hi Polly. I had my op in January and although I dont feel much different in myself, maybe a bit less tired, my friends and family say that I seem less stressed. Everyone is different. Because of my worry about my osteoporosis, I am having 6 monthly injections of denusonab.No side effects so far other than a few aches and pains. The scar is now invisible. Hope you feel better soon 
    • Posted

      Many thanks for your kind reply Gaynor and am relieved it`s not in my imagination that I don`t feel even 50% better. I am also quite tearful; not sure if it`s related bt I was emotionally all over the place with this condition before the op too. I am seeing the surgeon next week and will ask him about the Denusonab.
  • Posted

    Hi Leccy,

    My reason for surgery is slighlty different to yours ( I have given a detailed reason on this site allready) I have had chronic fatigue for twenty years yet the reason for surgery is they wondered if the recently discovered Hyperparathyroidism was mimicking the chronic fatigue instead or if I had both challenges- they have not tested for Osteoporosis yet. My high Calcium/ high PTH level, Calcium was 2.89 and PTH was 20 before op and 25 after op.. Hence there not sure if it has worked yet, op was on 20th of July scans were not clear where the rouge /faulty p glands were.. they removed one slighltly/faulty puffy one and the thymus gland ,none hiding in here. So they think there may be a rouge one some where else.

    Yet not getting excited yet, as they want to test the PTH and calcium over a number of weeks,...yet my most recent bloods are showing PTH of 8.9 and Calcium of 2.6, I will be excited if the next bloods come in the same or lower.

    Back to your question.... I was disapointed that when I came round ,I was in so much pain and trauma, the consultant gave me a two week sick note and my bosses were expecting me back to work on week 3 ,VERY FUNNY!!! BECAUSE i WAS UNDER FOR SO LONG (HAD 2 INCH CUT AND THYMUS REMOVED) I was not walking home the same day, like some people did, I had to stay in two nights

    .

    What you have to remember is that how long you were under for and how much anestestic they had to give you and how that effects you... 2 ..you were tired and not well before you went in, so body not a 100% fit to cope with an operation..3..not sure if they moved you around a lot, yet I had enormous amount of collar bone pain and neck, shoulder ,pelvis pain, then I had scar tissue musclle start to kick in..so have had 2 lots of physio (private) to try and break this down and contantly, masaging the numb/scar area . I lost my appetite..very very tearfull/depressed/worrying about work went back for 3 hours on week 3 after op and was in so much pain had to come back again...now on week 5 and looking to return for a day this thursday to work between 6-8 hours

    .I am now left with some fatigue not sure if it is back to the same level as before the op or worse, yet beter then last week. My appertite is back to normal, I still have tightness in coller bone, yet a lot more movement now. I still have numbness around scar when touching and massaging it and tightness in skin when swallowing.

    I make myself go for a walk each day and I do two pilates moves called arm openings and bow and arrow twice a day to keep my neck and coller bone muscles moving.

    I am still sleeping for an hour in the afternoon and got pain killers down to once a day.

    I am not so tearfull now...I do feel better then I did straight after the op, yet would love the tightness to be gone around my Scar/cut and have no pain in that area anymore. I two am waiting for my abundence of enegy to arrive and waiting to have further prove from my bloods that there is no more rouge PTH glands in my body and not need another op in the future or may have to, time will tell!

    All I can say to you Leccy and I hope this helps, Our boddies will heal at the pace that is right for us and that some of us take a lot longer then the people who walk out the same day and get to be cured , straight away and go back to work after two weeks!!!

    So don't beat yourself up if it takes a bit longer.... we are the slightly unique onescheesygrin

    Please keep me informed on how you are getting on... Here's to happy, healthy , recovery at your own pacelol

    PS I have given up on being positive on my recovery.. I am now being REALISTIC in my recovery ( which I feel is not a negative statement) It would be helpfull, if the after care from the hospital would also tell you the best and worse sernaros of the recovery time and be realistic with there healing times!!!

    Take Care,

    Fluffy

  • Posted

    Hi Fluffy

    Thank you so much for taking the time to reply in such an infornative way; I really do appreciate it. I have not had any bloods done since the op 6 weeks a go not even PTH OR, Calcium. I am seeing the GP Thursday and Consultant next week; it will be interesting to see how he reacts when he discovers this fact. I too was provided with a 2 week sick note from the hospital but, I have been off 6 weeks [ I work full time in a demanding job and have had negligible sick leave in over 30 years of full time work, so I am not phased by this]. My main symptom was severe fatigue and although I know Osteoporosis is serious, I`d rather have my energy back. We are very individual beings and I am aware that our bodies are unique in how they react to both, disease and the recovery from it. I concur with you, it`s not being negative in any way to be realistic about expectations for recovery. I kept self-diagnosing my fatigue and other S&S as Menopausal so, I think the PT adenomas were possibly there for many years but, I just put up with the illness until it got to the point where I insisted to my GP that something wasn`t quite right. It`s been a long haul since diagnosis of elevated PTH Feb 2013 to only receive surgery July 2015! That`s the UK NHS though; unfortunately. In any case, I am not a very patient patient ha ha! So, it`s my problem and I just need to get over myself and get on up! I will be going back to work from next week but, easing myself in by using up some accumulated leave for a couple of weeks. Then, it`s back to the grind stone for me! Many thanks for your kind words and I do hope you continue to improve. I really hope my emotional lability improves though, as I find this very annoying. Kind regards

    • Posted

      Hi Leccy,

      Glad to hear you are doing a gentle return to work.

      I hope you get some answers when you see your GP and Consultant soon.

      With the emotion side of things for the first two weeks I drank lots of water with 4/5 drops of bach flowers rescue remedy in it (each glass full) sip it through out the day it will bring the tears out/ rather then in. As your emotions change ... Aspen for unknown fear/ Mimulus for known fear and Gorse for hopeleness -Despair you can change them Dictionary of the bach flower remedies by t.w.Hyne.Jones is good.

      Also I found listning to a meditation CD called Arch Angel Micheal by Dianne Cooper before I go to sleep its about healing the throat chakra- vet apt considering where are cut is....... \i brought mine from Amazon

      Hope the above helps.. I know it is due to our over active hormones. relating to the parathyroid... yet anything to help the mind cope is good to me....Allthough sometimes i think we are put on a different path of life as  our mind is telling our body to be ill as it wants us to listen to a message it has for us??? 

      Sounds hippy not sure what my message is yet????????

      Happy healing let me know, how life goes for you.

      Best wishes

  • Posted

    Hi. I had my op in March and like you did not feel much difference at first. Five months on I do feel better with more energy. My scar can not be seen. 

    Shirley

    • Posted

      Many thanks Shirley68565. I hope I improve over the next few weeks.

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